F1 at Silverstone, anyone been?

apeZ

apeZ

apeZ

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I was considering treating my dad (and myself) to some tickets to watch the F1 next year at Silverstone, as it coincides with his birthday. However, the tickets seem ludicrously expensive... for 3 of us (2 adult, 1 child), it comes to £450 for 3 days + camping + parking + general admission!

There is a marginal difference between going for 1 day (Sunday for the race) and going for all 3, and we live around 2-3 hours drive away and I'm not sure if it would be worth just going on Friday/Saturday.

Has anyone from OCUK been to see it? My dad and me aren't exactly racing afficionados, but we enjoy following the races on TV and going to where the action happens would most likely be a fun experience. Also, is there anywhere we can get cheaper tickets and is there anything 'wrong' with General Admission as opposed to having your own seat? I assume if it is dry you can just sit on the grass and watch what goes on.

Any info appreciated! Thanks in advance :)
 
Hi there,

A few of us from here went this year - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18087942

I've watched the testing in June for three years at Silverstone (until they stopped it), but this was my first race weekend.

Our family camped for the weekend at Whittlebury Park (a golf course / hotel place) which has fairly basic but usable facilities. We had grandstand tickets for Luffield B (covered) which were excellent. On the Friday and Saturday you can go in any grandstand (not sure if GA can do this of whether its just any grandstand ticket holders) but for the Sunday you get the reserved seat you pay for.

If I'm honest, if you're going to do it, I would do it right and get a grandstand seat. Luffield gives a great view of the final complex - you see them arriving at full speed towards you and then around the final part and away towards start/finish and pit exit. If you go for GA then you have to get there very early in the morning (i.e. 6-8am) on race day to get the best spots.

Camping is the cheapest option as all the B&Bs and Hotels (which are fairly limited anyway as there isn't much else nearby) are booked up in advance and you pay over the odds.
 
Litchlake is great for camping.. right next to the circuit and a good curfew. Bring a genny and you can even have fridges and tvs.

As duke says Get a grandstand ticket... you will need to be on track at 5 am to get a good seat with general admission.

Personally Spa is the better of the two circuits for viewing with general admin. the cars sound better there also...
 
We left about 6-7pm on the Sunday and found it fine. I guess if you leave immediately after then it would be busy :p
 
We left straight after the race and I took just over an hour to get to Stevenage, traffic was fine straight away. 30 minutes later and it's shocking, we were in the car by the driver press conference.
 
The cost of F1 is worth every single moment if you are a Motorsport fan, without doubt. I have been to five grand prixs, of which four were at Silverstone.

My advice on tickets would be if you can afford a grandstand seat, get on. Otherwise, a general admission will be fine as long as you are into the circuit early and camp your spot (5.30 - 6.00am sound ok?).

Simply the sound of the cars and the speed is something you will never forget.
 
Meh, I'm glad I went when I was much younger, think we went twice when I was 11-12, though I have a memory of getting a pretty bad headache during the race.

But these days, at the stupidly hyper inflated prices and with excellent tv coverage(excluding commentators constantly spouting crap, but you'd still miss it if it wasn't there) its a whole lot of hassel to see people for a couple corners and very often next to no overtaking. It depends on the track but GA is often better to let you go and see a section of the track where overtaking happens a lot more often.

It might be worth asking your dad about it, because he might really not be into the idea of spending a whole birthday weekend in a tent, camping, to see very little action. IF I go to a race again it will be part of a planned trip elsewhere in the world, take a holiday in Spain for a couple weeks and make one weekend in Barca and take in the race while there.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Meh, I'm glad I went when I was much younger, think we went twice when I was 11-12, though I have a memory of getting a pretty bad headache during the race.

But these days, at the stupidly hyper inflated prices and with excellent tv coverage(excluding commentators constantly spouting crap, but you'd still miss it if it wasn't there) its a whole lot of hassel to see people for a couple corners and very often next to no overtaking. It depends on the track but GA is often better to let you go and see a section of the track where overtaking happens a lot more often.

It might be worth asking your dad about it, because he might really not be into the idea of spending a whole birthday weekend in a tent, camping, to see very little action. IF I go to a race again it will be part of a planned trip elsewhere in the world, take a holiday in Spain for a couple weeks and make one weekend in Barca and take in the race while there.
Click to expand...

Have to disagree there. F1 is more than just about watching overtaking, its just the atmosphere, speed, tech side and scale of things to take in as well. You see plenty of track action over the weekend - three F1 practice sessions, qualifying and the race plus the support races. You don't need to be stuck at one corner either - we watched each session from a different part of the circuit. Worth every penny imo.
 
I have been fortunate to go a few times and each time has been amazing. It's something I would suggest all F1 fans do at least once but the first time I'd go grandstand (done GA, Grandstand and corp hospitality) and as suggested, luffield is a great place due to the view and the complex.

Depending on your fathers age he may want to just do the race day but if you can I'd do it all, it's almost sensory overload at race and it's something he will never forget I'm sure.

Don't worry about traffic - it's a lot better in recent years and just wait an extra hour or two after race and then go. Problem solved.
 
I went this year for the 1st time, everyones right, the atmophere is brilliant, its very exciting, the speed and sound is like no other. I had GA which was fine was fine, arrived about 7'ish and got a decent place, got very busy later on. It is expensive there though so stock up. There's other races on too, plus the red arrows and cars on show. There are speakers all the way round but you can't hear them well so get a pocket radios.

I plan on camping and doing the 3 days next year.
 
The Kangeroo TV is good btw - used it when we went. You can get the 5Live commentary and live timings and onboard footage from the cars.
 
Due to my budget not stretching far enough, we're most likely going to go for the Saturday only, so we can at least see qualifying, and hopefully some other events on the same day. From what I gather, you can go anywhere you like, including the grandstands on that day too.

Anyone know what I should expect? Is there always a lot going on?
 
apeZ said:
Due to my budget not stretching far enough, we're most likely going to go for the Saturday only, so we can at least see qualifying, and hopefully some other events on the same day. From what I gather, you can go anywhere you like, including the grandstands on that day too.

Anyone know what I should expect? Is there always a lot going on?
Click to expand...

The grandstand thing is Friday only, Saturdays are busier than you probably think! :p

Plenty of race action of the Saturday - GP2, Formula BMW and so on, and there's loads of sponsor stands etc. to nose around.
 
I've been going every year for as long as I can remember now.

It used to be that on Saturdays you could do the roaming grandstand thing, but as the sport has got busier and busier, they seem to have stopped that.

On the Saturday morning for first practice, it wasn't actually very busy and we asked the steward whether we were supposed to be sitting in our assigned seats like Sunday, or whether we could sit anywhere. He said, sit where you like. Thirty minutes later a couple shows and the husband gets all shirty about us being sat in his seats. So we moved along one... Didn't used to get that kind of agro in the past.

There's plenty to see over the weekend, but I would say that especially since the recession there has been cuts back on the amount of stuff the sponsors put one. It used to be that every team had a stand with one of their cars in and other such things. This year it was just McLaren, who rather than having the current car on display had an older shape one you could sit in for a photo. Santander had one with some cars in, such as the Ferrari, but I think that was it.

The best couple of years was when BMW had their motorsport area setup around near maggotts. It had a little mini track where they had the likes of Johnny Herbert doing donughts every half and hour, along with areas where you could try changing a tyre, learn about all the components and have a play with them and even get a signed autograph from a driver. We saw Nick Heidfeld.
 
We sat in the Arena grandstand for the qualifying and had no problems. It was about 80-90% full but was almost empty when we got there, which was about an hour early so we could eat etc.
 
just got tickets from the parents for 2011

not sure where the seats are or any proper details yet. will post back once i know more as some insider advice on what time to get there etc is probably going to be essential judging by this thread
 
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